National Roaming

tholland55

payless wrote:

I believe only 3 have this backup service.

However if its a real issue you can get a forgein sim , that will then roam onto available UK networks ... not as daft as it sounds , as you can get a Isle of Man simcard ( still a UK 0044 7 number) thats does this , with no costs for incoming calls ... although some providers might charge slightly differently for those calling you

I'm half doing that at the moment. I have an IOM number which I mainly use when abroad (it's one of those global SIMs so I can receive calls for free in a lot of countries). I just wondered if there was a way, of say, being able to receive text messages, make / receive the odd call, etc. from my O2 phone when out of their area.

*!*HIBS*!*

patwa wrote:

...it'll flash from 3 to O2 UK if I stand in one particular spot, but I can't do anything with it.

This is because 3 piggybacks using the o2 network mainly for calls/texts, as 3 doesn't have the infrastructure to be able to provide access to all their services to all their customers. This is exactly the same situation for T-mobile and Virgin. All Virgin customers are using the T-mobile infrastructure.

espresso

*!*HIBS*!* wrote:

This is because 3 piggybacks using the o2 network mainly for calls/texts, as 3 doesn't have the infrastructure to be able to provide access to all their services to all their customers. This is exactly the same situation for T-mobile and Virgin. All Virgin customers are using the T-mobile infrastructure.

Not quite the same surely! Virgin is a virtual network and does not have any network infrastructure, whereas 3 is at least ten years behind the other networks and has a fall back deal with O2 soon to be with Orange, for areas of zero coverage.

espresso

tholland55 wrote:

I'm half doing that at the moment. I have an IOM number which I mainly use when abroad (it's one of those global SIMs so I can receive calls for free in a lot of countries). I just wondered if there was a way, of say, being able to receive text messages, make / receive the odd call, etc. from my O2 phone when out of their area.

Previously users of the Nokia 7600 on 3, had them not only unlocked but also a factory reset done as well. This meant that it could be used on any network and more importantly the "hidden" 2g menu options became visible meaning that it didn't constantly try to lock onto a 3g signal as 3 wanted. Obviously 3 did not like users doing this, as they would have had to pay their fall back network operator for any calls made in this way but some users did make use of this and I assume that it may be still possible!

HTH

DonnyDave

The only way you could receive calls on your O2 number when outside the coverage area would be to divert to an Orange number. This would of course incur you costs for diversion, or use up inclusive minutes, depending on how your tariff charges for diversion.

Bear in mind that once you have set the divert and you go out of coverage area, you will need to go back into the coverage area to turn it off.

When I went to Hope I could receive a signal in the valley (on Orange) where my friends on other networks could not. When I went up on to the hills I found that I got a "Limited Service" message and a red ! appeared next to the network name. I thought that perhaps I was connected to another network, but with it showing Orange, it suggested that I was still on that network.

I think that the regulator should force roaming in rural areas which would seek to encourage operators to extend their coverage where viable and provide much better coverage for phone users.

redux

To clarify: no roaming is possible across UK networks. Mentioned above, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man are separate networks, so you would be roaming anyway when visiting there, and subject to roaming charges.

You might use O2's call diversion in areas that you know in advance have poor O2 coverage, but on an ad hoc basis, once you lose your own network, you can't register to do anything. And call divert doesn't apply to text messages either. I'd suggest that the OP diverts occasionally to the IOM SIM for incoming calls in areas he/she knows to be dodgy, and otherwise puts up with using voicemail.